Marfa Girl

It might be difficult to think of a town more depressing than Marfa, but that is the portrayal. A place that has nothing, and offers even less. Where there is really nothing to do, and a smart student seems to know more than a teacher. There are several border patrol agents, and one is very easy to dislike. To say he is disgusting is an understatement. Locals call him a coconut; dark on the outside, and white on the inside. It turns out his father was extremely abusive, so he grew up needing the pain. But as one said, being a border patrol agent is about the only job one can get other than at a drive in. It is easy to understand what major topics of the teenagers are, and the movie covers a lot of that. Drugs like weed are an escape. One could say the film wanders around aimlessly often without a point. But is that not the reality of the lives portrayed?

Back in the late 90s and early 2000's Larry Clark came out with some movie that ventured between good and great, but no matter the quality they were always at least interesting. Kids was spectacular and Bully for all it's leering overkill was at least an interesting study of youth gone horribly horribly wrong. Here we have Marfa Girl a loose assortment of sex scene as directionless as it's teen protagonist tied only very loosely together by a shoe-horned in generic evil white guy sex fiend. Even this thin subplot doesn't quite hang together, let alone support the surrounding sex scenes. No character in this movie is even remotely likable. Everyone comes off as shallow and following a set of directives unnatural to human interaction. The movie even starts on a dud. Clark has always been about using non-actors in his movies and usually it works out well, or at least well enough. At the beginning of the movie is a contrived scene with a teacher who's line readings are so bad you wonder if there's an off camera man with a gun pointed at her. What follows is an aimless 100 minutes in which even the sight of naked girls becomes tedious. With a mid movie break to hear the idiotic philosophies of the titular Marfa Girl. Can a person be that stupid? Can people pass the age of 14 really believe such utopian garbage? Nobody with half a brain should take this moron seriously. Then there is the aforementioned generic evil white man with a secret. Why is it that movies never seem to find that cliche or sterotype tiresome. I think I have an answer. Larry Clark really just needs to admit to himself that he would like to direct pornographic movies starring the youngest actors and actresses the law will allow and never waste our time pretending he's a director with anything to say about anything.

Eh. Kinda interesting. Some good writing. Some good scenes. Some interesting. Some not so interesting. Classic Larry Clark themes done well.

It's clear this movie basically does what it wants - which is fine by me. But y'know, that doesn't always makes for the best film or sometimes it does. The acting in places is very naturalistic, in others forced but overall it creates a good feel for the town and it's people. I guess this is what it was going for so well done.

I don't think this has the lasting impression KEN PARK had on me but it has graphic sex, teenagers talking about sex, skateboarding, smoking weed. Who am I to complain? Clark, at this point, just makes art and I just watched it. It feels stupid even rating it or writing this review.

Well done LC keep up the good work.

Well there is one scene/segment in the movie that could easily be called that. It may be even called that in the scene selection - it would make sense. Apart from that, if you know Larry Clarke you know what to expect. Nudity, intercourse, swearing, violence and general drama.

Families are torn apart, but there is a lot of talking, a lot of social criticism. If you are into that, this can be enjoyable. Much of what is said, is supposed to shock though and if you are not bigotted, it may just seem obvious. Now it may sound a bit weird that a man of Clarkes age is still doing movies about the youth and the discovery of sexuality. You'll either find this refreshing or weird. Whatever the case you know what to expect

Pretentious boring and who cares, I could not believe this film won the best film prize at the 2012 Rome film festival it must have been a bad year for films in the official competition. The film about bored teenagers in El Paso, TX who look like there were ripped off Calvin Kline a fashion ad, bad acting bad sex, and of course stereotyping border patrol agents as bad people who are to get you and make life miserable. Larry Clark should learn from his greater film like Kids and Bully and remember when he could actually make films and not bore audiences to death. nothing much to say about a film with nothing much to tell.